Page 54 of Shattered

Neilix’s eyes lift to mine, and the boyish look he gives right before digging into his food has any lingering negative feelings dissipating.

“I’m glad you decided to come,” I admit.

A softness smooths the edges of his expression as he finishes his mouthful. “I’m glad I did, too.”

Neilix and I chat between mouthfuls, but after a while, I catch him watching me more often than not, with amusement lighting his eyes, though he tries to hide it.

I lift a hand to cover my full mouth. “What?”

His lips press together as if suppressing a smile, and he shakes his head. “I just remember you stuffing your face like that when we were younger.”

I press my hand against my mouth harder, trying to hold back an embarrassed laugh while I swallow. “Mom always said I should learn to eat like a lady.”

Neilix lets himself smile this time, and a hint of his dimple appears, making my stomach dip. “It’s cute.”

I feel a flush hit my cheeks and lower my eyes, finishing the rest of my food with a little less vigor while fighting a smile the whole time. There’s a different air surrounding him now than the man who first arrived, and it feels like the old Neilix is starting to resurface.

A few minutes later, I’m about to ask how his food tastes when I catch someone approaching from my periphery. There’s a moment of dread when I see who it is, but then my eyebrows bunch together when I notice his focus is solely on Neilix, who hasn’t noticed him yet.

“Well, holy fucking shit. He does actually do something other than work and be a lame-ass dad.”

Neilix’s eyes shoot up to the intruder, his face hardening the second he sees him, along with a subtle flare of his nostrils, and I realize he also knows this guy.

“Well, now you know, and you can leave.”

“And with a date, no less,” Shane plows on, undeterred like the inconsiderate dick he is. When I look up at him, a flash of recognition hits his expression, and his eyes widen. “Wait, aren’t you . . .”

He snaps his fingers a few times while thinking. It doesn’t surprise me that he can’t quite remember, seeing as he was high the two times I saw him at my brother’s place. Thankfully, Jason put a quick stop to any blatant flirting from him and threatened his life. It’s one of the only times I was grateful for Jason’s overbearing protectiveness.

“Sierra,” he finally says, pointing at me.

“Sienna,” I correct with annoyance.

“That’s it.” Then, looking back at Neilix, he says, “How do you know such a beautiful young lady?”

“Old friends. Went to school with her brother.” Neilix’s voice is flat as he pushes his empty plate to the edge of the table. His body is tense, and I keep catching his hands curling into fists before releasing again, as if he’s trying to hold himself back. Clearly, he dislikes him, maybe even more than I do.

“No shit. You know Jason? You and I have been working together forever, and I had no idea. He’s a fun guy, though. Nothin’ like you, old fogey.” He snickers, as if what he said was funny. “Haven’t seen him in a while, though. He hasn’t been around to party.”

That’s because he’s trying to separate himself from idiots like you.

The waitress happens to glance over from a couple of tables away, and I catch her eye, mouthing the word check to her, hoping that he’ll leave if she comes over.

“I’ll have to reach out to him again. Anyway,” he knocks on the table a few times, “I gotta go meet up with my friends. Hitting the club tonight.”

He walks off just as the waitress arrives with the check, anyway, but I’m left with an uneasy feeling swirling around in my stomach after what he said. As much as going clubbing on a Tuesday night seems ridiculous, that’s not the part I’m stuck on.

I don’t want him to contact Jason or tell him that he saw me with Neilix.

I can only imagine how that would go down, especially with the fact that I didn’t tell him I came to the city and went to dinner with a guy he’s trying to mend a bridge with instead of visiting him.

I reach for the check, but Neilix snatches it up quickly, shooting me a look that tells me he is absolutely not letting me pay.

“So, Jason is friends with Shane?”

There’s a twist of displeasure on his lips when he says Shane’s name, like even just doing that bothers him.

I sigh. “Friends is a stretch . . . more like an acquaintance. He used to party with him a bunch. I met him at Jason’s a while back and couldn’t stand him.” Neilix’s face is pensive as he thinks that over, still clearly irritated by the interaction. Hopefully, that doesn’t deter him from becoming friends with Jason again. “As far as I know, he hasn’t hung out with him in a long time.”

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